The invention relates to a speech aid apparatus for laryngectomees which has a sound head consisting of a clamped hard diaphragm capable of vibration by a plunger, a driving means in the form of a vibration producing coil joined to the plunger and associated field-wise with a magnet system having a permanent magnet, a soft diaphragm joined to the plunger, and a generator-amplifier joined to the sound head for the production of periodic current pulses for the vibration producing coil. Electronic speech aids of this kind produce a tone which is conducted through the anterior aspect of the neck into the oral-pharyngeal cavity where it can be modulated by movements of the tongue and pharynx to produce intelligible speech. Usually such speech aids permit the frequency and intensity of the tone, and hence the speech, to be adapted to ambient conditions.
In one known speech aid of the initially described type, which resembles a pocket flashlight in construction, the cylindrical handle part contains an audio-frequency generator and amplifier together with potentiometers for regulating the pitch and loudness of the tone, plus a rechargeable battery, while the head part houses the electrodynamic transducer and the plastic hard diaphragm which is clamped between resilient rings. The head and handle form an integral unit which in operation must be applied by hand to the user's throat.
The learning and practice of speech by means of the known speech aid apparatus require extraordinary concentration on the part of the user, both with regard to the coordination of the operation of the amplifier switch with the movements of the mouth and pharynx, and with regard to the point of application and pressure of application of the head portion to the throat. Less practiced users of the known speech aid apparatus, in the effort to concentrate during speech, often find themselves gesticulating unconsciously, so that the head of the speech aid comes partially or completely out of contact with the throat, resulting in failures of voice production in the oral and pharyngeal cavity (cf. "Der Spiegel" news magazine, 1974, Report on Cancer in Germany).
But even for experienced users of the known speech aid, the need to raise to the throat the hand holding the instrument, and the constant occupation of that one hand with speech, is a severe handicap in many activities.